Technology 101

(Originally published December 7th, 2011)

African Slaves came to the New World because the Colonists needed Laborers

The Europeans didn’t invent slavery when they introduced it to the New World. It’d been around since the dawn of civilization. And it’s been a way of life in many civilizations for thousands of years. Where no one was safe from the slave traders. Some were born into slavery. Some were simply soldiers captured in battle. Even children were bought and sold. Perhaps the saddest story is the Children’s Crusade of 1212. When about 50,000 poor Christian kids walked from Central Europe to free Palestine from Muslim control and return it to the Christians. They got as far as boarding ships in Italian ports. But those ships did not deliver them to Palestine. They delivered them instead into the Muslim slave markets of Northern Africa and the Middle East. Where they were never heard from again.

African slaves came to the New World because the colonists needed laborers. They tried enslaving the Native Americans. But it was too easy for them to escape back into friendly territory. And blend in with the indigenous population. Not the case with black Africans. Who didn’t know the surrounding country. Or the languages. What they knew was an ocean away. Also, the locals had a tendency of dying from European diseases. Especially smallpox. Whereas the Africans were long exposed to smallpox. And built up some resistance to this scourge of European colonialism.

So the New World colonies began with slaves harvesting their crops. Slaves that the Europeans bought from African slave traders. Who had long been selling captured Africans to the Arabs. And had no problem selling them to the Europeans. And so began the problem of slavery in America.

With the Cotton Gin Separating the Seed from the Cotton Fiber became not so Labor Intensive

When the British American colonists started talking about liberty the slavery problem was the elephant in the room that they were reluctant to talk about. When Jefferson wrote that all men were created equal they knew that meant those enslaved against their will, too. Yet here they were. These liberty-seeking people were enslaving people themselves. But there was a problem. To form a united country the Founding Fathers needed the southern states. Who used slaves as the basis for their economy. And they weren’t going to join a union without their slaves. So they wouldn’t talk about the elephant. Instead they tabled that discussion for 20 years. With the population growing they didn’t need slaves anymore. There were few in the North. And the South should follow suit. It was inevitable. Leaving just one problem to solve. What to do with their slaves as they transitioned to paid laborers. Which the Founding Fathers were sure the southern slave owners could solve within those 20 years.

Slave-labor was not efficient. George Washington wanted to sell his slaves and replace them with paid laborers. Because paid laborers cost less. You only paid them for their labors. And then they went away. And if you changed your crops you could easily hire new laborers skilled in the new crop. Not quite so easy with a large slave labor force. So those in the North had good reason to believe that slavery would slowly give way to paid laborers. Even in the South. Or so they thought. But one of the staple crops of the South started to shape events. Cotton.

Cotton was a labor-intensive crop to harvest. And separating the seed from the cotton was even more labor-intensive. Until someone mechanized this process. With a cotton engine. The cotton gin. Patented in America by Eli Whitney. A hand-cranked device that used hooks to pull the cotton fiber through a screen. The holes in the screen were small enough to let the cotton fiber through. But not large enough for the seeds to pass. With the cotton gin separating the seed from the cotton fiber became not so labor intensive. In fact, these little machines could clean cotton faster than the slaves could harvest it. Which meant, of course, there was a lot more cotton that could be grown and harvested. Which created a new slavery boom. And dashed all the hopes of the Founding Fathers.

Cheap Cloth Unleashed a lot of Economic Activity which Improved the Quality of Life

Many blame the cotton gin for extending the institution of slavery in America. And the bloody American Civil War that ended it. But apart from this the cotton gin was a fundamental step in modernizing economies everywhere. And helped to spur the textile industry forward. By creating an abundant source of material for weaving looms everywhere.

The textile industry was important because everyone wore clothes. And we made clothes from cloth. Once upon a time people made their own clothes. Or spent a lot of money for store-bought clothes. Leaving them with little time or money for other things. So cheap cloth unleashed a lot of economic activity. Which improved the quality of life. The Chinese started this process. By giving us an advanced loom that used foot-power to lift thread. And the spinning wheel to make yarn. All the weavers needed were abundant sources of fiber to feed these machines. Such as American cotton.

The Chinese also made some beautiful silk tapestries with complex patterns. Which were very difficult to reproduce by hand in the West. Until the French automated this process. When Joseph Marie Jacquard improved on the works of Basile Bouchon, Jean Baptiste Falcon and Jacques Vaucanson. And created the Jacquard loom. This automated the pattern process coming from those Chinese looms. By using punch cards to automatically lift the proper threads to reproduce that complex pattern. An impressive advance. But one that did not impress the French. Who were busier with revolution than fancy weaved patterns. But the British were interested. And they used the Jacquard loom in their booming textile industry. Fed largely by that abundant American cotton. Until the American Civil War, at least.

An Advanced Automated and Mechanized Economy has no Room for Slavery

The British also used this punch card idea to automate their shipbuilding industry. To speed up the riveting process. By automating riveting machines. To make ships that carried immigrants to the new world. Who swelled the American population. Making the census taking more and more complex. And another punch card system made counting these people simpler. The tabulator. Where an operator punched holes in a card to represent information for each person. Age. Marital status. Country of origin. Etc. IBM would use this idea of punching information into a card later. To program some of the first computers. Machines that increased efficiencies further. By replacing ever more people with machines.

So it is an interesting turn of events. Eli Whitney created the cotton gin in America. A machine that was part of a series of technological developments that increased efficiencies and reduced the number of workers needed to perform once labor intensive tasks. All during this process fewer people were able to do more things. Except one thing. Planting and harvesting cotton. That would take first a civil war. And then steam-powered farming equipment. To automate farming. Which came later to the South than it did in the slavery-free North. And other parts of the world.

Life got better for everyone the more advanced the economy became. Sure, a lot of people lost jobs. But that’s progress. A few lost jobs is a small price to pay when the masses can enjoy a better life. Thanks to automation and mechanization. And that includes slaves. Or, rather, former slaves. For an advanced automated and mechanized economy has no room for slavery.